A Good Nights Sleep
by Sbrdgn
Summary: Ruby may always seem like a happy little ball of sunshine and rainbows. But even the happiest people hide their sadness, and when Weiss learns that her partner has been hurting and in need, she decides its time to act.


For most, adjusting to the new atmosphere of living with roommates should be an easy and simple task. Whether they be in a school setting, or perhaps financial restraints had brought them together. Either way nearly a year spent together would normally be enough time for anyone to adjust, well anyone except the Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company herself, Weiss Schnee. Living in almost complete luxury for an entire life came with some serious disadvantages. The biggest of which being the inability to cope with sleeping in a room with 3 other noisy people. Between the large blonde's constant un-naturally loud snoring, and the faunus' constant need to read her books into the latest hours of the night. However, all of this paled in comparison to the horrific mumblings of the red-haired girl who was directly under her. Seemingly every night her partner would do nothing but mumble words in her sleep. Weiss, to her credit, did everything she could to ignore them. She was able, at the very least, to ignore whatever the young huntress was saying by burying her face deep into her bedding. The high-pitched noise of her partner's voice was always there. Some nights it was a small mumble, and the heiress was thankful for these nights because they allowed her to sleep well, but some nights the red-haired girl seemed to be in constant speak, only allowing Weiss to get a very restless sleep. The heiress knew she couldn't bring herself to ask Ruby about the nights though. She had promised to try and be a 'nicer' or 'better' friend and she assumed brining such things up would be incredibly rude. So the white-haired huntress suffered through the nights, until one particular night.

Weiss hadn't immediately realized what was wrong.

She simply lay there thinking to herself "Something isn't right."

It wasn't until she heard the rustle of bed sheets and the small thud noise of feet on the floor from someone jumping down that she realized.

Ruby wasn't speaking.

Weiss peaked slowly out of the side of her 'Bunk bed', only able to see through the small ray of moonlight draping through the window of her team's room. After some squinting and silently wishing she had the night vision of a faunus she saw the signature flash of red hair indicating their leader had gotten off her bunk.

Weiss observed in silent curiosity as Ruby walked over to the window of their room.

Was Ruby… crying?!

The heiress has seen their leader cry before, she briefly remembered the card game they had all participated in in the library. But never had she seen Ruby be legitimately sad, yet here was the red headed, girl with tears streaming down her face as she held her face in her hands, her elbows propped up against the window sill with the moon light pouring in and reflecting light off her small form while her body is being wracked with emotion.

Weiss couldn't believe this was the same hyper-active and overly optimistic leader she had known for the last year, yet despite that aura of bubbliness their leader was known for Ruby was in legitimate emotional pain here, and the only one who knew the heiress herself.

As annoying as Ruby was to her, Weiss couldn't get rid of the compelling feeling to go over and hug Ruby. All the negative emotions the heiress felt towards her washing away as if the tears running down Ruby's face were carrying them away, and replacing them with nothing but legitimate concern for her partner.

The question of 'how long' wormed its way into the heiress's mind as she watched her friend release all her hidden emotions.

"How long has she felt this?" Weiss thought to herself. "How many times has she done this without anyone noticing?"

Just the simple thought of their leader doing this for almost a year straight, unknown to even her sister nearly brought Weiss to similar tears.

The feeling to go embrace the crying girl was almost overwhelming Weiss by the time Ruby finally got up from the window, giving a quick wipe to her face before walking back over to her bunk and climbing up with nothing more than a small sigh and a sniffle.

The heiress slowly crawled back into a sleeping position, mentally kicking herself for not comforting her partner when she was clearly in need.

Weiss couldn't be sure how long she lay there, the image of Ruby's normally cheerful face being reduced to that sad, broken look she had whilst she cried nearly reduced the heiress to tears.

Weiss did fall asleep that night, haunted by the image of Ruby and her own indecisiveness to help.

As the heiress sat in her bed the next night, she stared out the window. The moon was full, or rather as full as the remnant moon could be. But she knew this night would not be for sleep, the Heiress was determined to ensure her partner was in satisfactory mental health. So she waited, deep into the night when all her teammates had finally slipped into their sleep, and the tell-tale mumbles of their leader occupied the room. As Weiss listened in she felt instantly bad, she knew that snooping on Ruby like this was not right, yet she also knew this was something that had to be done. She shook away those thoughts, focusing fully on her leader's sleep-laced words.

"Mom? Please no mom..."  
Ruby's mother? The Heiress had only heard brief mentions of the red-head's mom, the only thing she knew is that she was a huntress and had died when Ruby was young.  
"Mom, please.. miss you.. please come back"

Those simple words nearly shattered Weiss completely, she had to hold her breath to stop herself from crying. Here was this always positive, ball of happiness of a person, and yet she hid her pain so well. Just by looking at Ruby you couldn't see it, she wore a mask just like the heiress herself, yet the only time she allowed her true emotions too be seen is when she was sleeping, unable to stop her true self. The urge to go comfort her leader has nearly overwhelmed Weiss by the time Ruby gasped, sitting up in her bed, tears streaming down her face and her eyes full of sadness and loss, and just as she had done so many nights before she stood, walking over the window in the dorm and cried quietly.

The Heiress sighed quietly, she couldn't simply let this continue unchecked, and so she shifted, climbing out of her bed and quietly walking over to Ruby.  
The redhead hadn't noticed her yet, she was staring out the window into the sky, letting the tears simply fall from her eyes as she sobbed quietly. The moonlight reflecting off the streaks forming on Ruby's cheeks highlighted her beauty in some odd twist of fate, at least to Weiss.

After watching Ruby for a few moments more, she finally reached out, placing a soft caring hand on the redhead's shoulder, causing her to turn and look at Weiss with confusion.

"W-Weiss? I'm sorry did I wake y-you?" Ruby stammered out, pulling a fake smile, in an attempt to not make her partner worry. "I'll try to keep it down in the future Weiss-y"

The Heiress did something she never thought she'd ever catch herself doing, she pulled her partner into a deep meaningful embrace, rubbing her back softly and letting Ruby lean on her.  
"Just let it all out Ruby.." She whispered in a soft comforting tone.  
Ruby simply slumped against the Heiress, the tell-tale sniffles of crying coming back as she returned the hug, laying her head on Weiss's shoulder and crying openly.

The Heiress stayed in that position for a long time, simply listening to the other woman's delicate cries of emotion, until Ruby finally broke the embrace, looking her partner in the eyes with a mixture of sadness and gratitude.

Ruby sniffled a few more times, wiping her eyes and whispering softly  
"Weiss?"  
"Yes Ruby?"  
"If you don't mind.." She looked away ashamed and expecting to be rejected. "can I lay with you tonight? P-Please?"  
The Heiress gave a small laugh and smiled, motioning for the redhead to follow.  
"If that's what would make you happy."

The two climbed into Weiss's bed, Ruby nesting herself against the Heiress, and Weiss resting her chin on top of Ruby's head as she hugged the other woman close.  
"Thank you Weiss..."  
Weiss simply closed her eyes, listening to the slow even breathing of her partner beside her. Her thoughts drifted around, most of which fixated on Ruby making her smile and whisper "goodnight" to Ruby before her mind slowly drifted off, the peacefulness of Ruby's presence giving the Heiress something she hadn't experienced in a long time. A good nights sleep.


End file.
